Interview with Ravi Vakil

Math-Life Balance

Ravi Vakil is a professor at Stanford University, working in algebraic geometry. In this interview, Ravi talks about the importance of a community for learning math, discusses the ways of learning to be creative at math and shares how considering other career options helped him to be happier as a mathematician.

A clarification for Ravi's comment on the situation with math in USSR:

Due to deep-rooted antisemitism in the Soviet Union, the admission of ethnically Jewish mathematicians into top universities was unofficially “limited” by the state. Faced with these hurdles, Jewish mathematicians opted for institutions specializing in specific technologies, such as the Oil and Gas Institute. Over time, some of these lesser known institutions earned a reputation for producing leading academics in the fundamental sciences.

Ravi's homepage: http://math.stanford.edu/~vakil/​

Photo: website of Stanford University

0:00​ teaser

0:40​ wish to be an embassador

4:36​ school teachers are the most important

7:17​ coming up with math questions

12:56​ don’t write emails with vague questions

19:12​ not making students intimidated

25:41​ building welcoming communities

29:34​ USSR math: fairytale vs antisemitism

32:13​ big picture vs details

39:55​ learn math by solving problems

41:45​ consider other jobs to release pressure

49:00​ why look down on applied mathematicians

53:15​ how to follow math talks

59:27​ the most desired interviewee

59:58​ wish for young mathematicians